Cold Case Files - The Monster

Episode Date: May 3, 2022

A serial rapist leaves a trail of death and destruction unchecked for years... until one victim survives. Check out our great sponsors! Purple: Go to Purple.com/coldcase10 and use code "coldcase10" to get 10% off any order of $200 or more! Get YOUR copy of Paul Holes' new book Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases - available now everywhere books are sold. Progressive: Quote at Progressive.com to join the over 27 million drivers who trust Progressive!

A monster, by definition, is an imaginary creature. But so many times, people refer to rapists and murderers as monsters. I think we do that because we're scared. We don't want to believe that a human is capable of such horrific acts. No one wants to believe that one of our friends or family members could become one of society's most hated. The reality is, though, murderers and rapists are simply humans whose life experiences warp their sense of right and wrong. In many cases, it's a cycle that goes unnoticed until it's too late. In this case, a sexual predator, Charles Ray Vines, has been labeled as a monster.

From A&E, this is Cold Case Files. I'm Brooke, and here's the iconic Bill Curtis with a classic case, The Monster. 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and church begins to fill. J.W. McAlpin is a regular at the Phoenix Village Baptist Church and notices an empty pew, one usually occupied by 58-year-old Juanita Wofford. If she could get here, she was here. Anytime my church door was open, she was here. After church, McAlpin and a friend pay Wofford a visit

and immediately realize something is amiss. The living room door was partially open, so we opened the storm door so we could kind of see. All we could see was a trail of blood going through the house. A call is made to police. Portsmouth Detective Randy Cook is the first to arrive. And when we entered the residence, there was forced entry to the front door. There was obvious signs of violence, and Miss Wofford was in her bed

and had been obviously assaulted and murdered. Joining Cook at the scene, Homicide Captain J.C. Reiter. Sexual predators made an attack here. The perpetrator didn't take anything from the house. They came, he killed her, they raped her, and he left. Captain Ryder releases the crime scene to technician Luther Luntree, who quickly realizes he has his hands full. I knew it was going to be a very difficult scene to process.

She was not a tidy housekeeper. Using an ultraviolet light, laundry starts in the victim's bedroom, focusing on a nightgown found near the body. We did look at it with UV light and it did appear to be a stain that could have been either a semen stain or a saliva stain or a urine stain. The nightshirt is sent to the crime lab, where a semen stain is detected and a DNA profile developed. Lonshree also scans the walls of the bedroom and discovers something unusual. Perhaps the calling card of a killer. When we were looking with oblique lighting and under UV light,

we were able to see where the hands were placed on the walls, and you could see what appeared to be urine stains on the walls. We felt at the time that the attacker probably had a fetish called golden showers. He was really

into golden showers, fascination with urine. Investigators next turned their attention to Wofford's living room, where they detect more traces of blood. We were able to see footprints on the furniture where the suspect climbed up on the furniture to walk out of the residence. Detectives believe the killer made good his escape along railroad tracks running behind the victim's home. In the weeks that follow, Fran Hall works the neighborhood, hoping someone might remember

a face. We really didn't glean any useful information. The people we talked to, a lot of them had already moved from the area. There was a lot of rental property, so people were in and out a lot. So we really didn't get any good information. The murder of Juanita Wofford seems to be turning cold, even before it gets started. Then Detective Cook shares details on a similar assault that took place two months earlier. In this case, the victim, an 89-year-old woman named Lily Jones, survived. Now this house looks just like Juanita's.

Cook begins with a visit to the Jones crime scene. Well, originally the screen was cut. He cut the screen this way. The residence looks almost identical from the road to Ms. Walford's residence. It's got the bushes. It's an older house, probably built in the same era as Ms. Walford's house. The method of entry was the same way. The screen door was cut. The front door was kicked open. There was a vicious attack. That night, Ms. Jones was here on the couch sleeping. She was woke up by a knocking at the door. She asked who it is, and the individual at the door asked to come in and use the phone.

And she told the individual that he needed to go away. The individual was able to force the door completely open, and he attacked her. And as he was trying to drag her back to the bedroom, she began to scream. And prior to reaching the bedroom, there was a small gas heater. And Mrs. Jones tripped over the heater, knocking her to the ground along with him on top of her.

And so this is where the assault took place, on the floor of the bedroom. And after he assaulted her, he got up and left the residence through the front door. If it was the same suspect, then he was becoming more brazen and more violent each time. And it was a concern that we were going to have some more problems before we caught anybody. Investigators begin to sift through unsolved rape cases and police disturbance reports, looking for similar attacks and perhaps the first hint of a lead.

What they happen upon is a man who was either an eyewitness to Juanita Wofford's murder or perhaps the killer himself. This man was there. He was there, and he knows all about this crime scene. This community is a very close community. I've lived in this community all my life. And when something like this happens, a very brutal homicide, it affects the entire community. Detective Fran Hall is an investigator with the Fort Smith Police Department.

On January 12th, she gets a call from a woman named Marlene, who believes her brother Danny Bennett might be Juanita Wofford's killer. He lived in the neighborhood, which is very close to Juanita Wofford's house, and because of his odd habits, she felt like he might be a suspect in this. According to Marlene, her brother Danny's odd habits included sexual abuse towards women he was dating. He was very sexually aggressive, and he would sodomize them sometimes, and sometimes he would use violence toward them and urinate on them. At the Wofford crime scene, investigators discovered urine all over the walls. Detective

Hall shares the possible connection with homicide captain J.C. Ryder, who obtains a search warrant to search Bennett's home. After several murders and violations, a woman comes forward with someone she thinks could be a suspect, her own brother. She believes that his odd habits and proximity to the crime scenes could be evidence that he's the culprit. We discovered several bottles of urine. Urine was found in empty Dr. Pepper bottles

inside the refrigerator. Hey, this has got to be our guy. We've got urine all over the crime scene, all over the walls. I mean, what's the chances of somebody with a fascination of urine out in this neighborhood? I mean, just bells went off. We've got our guy. On January 27th, detectives sit down with Bennett.

In no time at all, he had told us what had happened. He admitted to killing Ms. Walford. He went into some detail. He described the pool of blood and the living room floor. He went like this with his hand. And I said, what is that? He says, the drag marks through the blood. And you can really see those in the crime scene photos. And he went on to say what made the drag marks was her buttocks.

We asked him how he left the crime scene. And he said that he had jumped up on the couch and out the front door. And that fit the crime scene exactly. The next day, investigators sit down with Bennett again. This time, they want to talk about the rape of 89-year-old Lily Jones, a case so similar to Wofford, detectives are sure the two must be linked. Almost immediately, Bennett begins to confess.

I've already taken a typewritten statement from Mr. Bennett. I'm going to read that statement and then ask Mr. Bennett if that's the correct statement that he gave me. I then forced my way into the statement and then ask Mr. Bennett if that's the correct statement that he gave me. I then forced my way into the residence and slapped her around. I went room to room and couldn't find anything, so I slapped her around again and put her in the bedroom. I pissed on the bed and on the floor. I then forced sex on her.

Okay. With the single word, okay, Bennett appears to put a seal on the Lily Jones rape investigation. He is charged for that crime as well as the Wofford homicide. Samples of Bennett's hair and blood are sent to the FBI crime lab for DNA analysis. And the community breathes a rather large exhale. It was like, thank God that's behind us. The department felt like we had the right guy.

I knew we had the right guy. Then the evidence starts coming back in. Ten months before Bennett is to stand trial, DNA test results are returned from the FBI. They come back and say that our semen sample could be from two different contributors, but Danny Bennett's not one of them. They're also saying that the Lily Jones and Juanita Wofford case are not related. This just blows everything out of the water. Genetic testing appears to exonerate Bennett completely on the Jones rape. As for the Wofford homicide, however,

Captain Ryder and prosecuting attorney Ron Fields are not yet ready to let go. Well, we had a confession. The police had done a good job. They had the interview where he'd been in the vicinity. We had the location. Still feel that we've got the right man because the description he gave of the crime scene

was so detailed to the point of describing description he gave of the crime scene was so detailed to the point of describing how he had left the crime scene, he had to have been there. Theorizing that Seaman found at the Wofford crime scene might be entirely unrelated to the murder, the prosecutor refuses to drop the charges and Danny Ray Bennett remains in custody. That is, until a year and a half later, when a third crime occurs, one that convinces detectives they've arrested an innocent man. I was notified by Detective Pittman, and he asked that we come and assist him with processing their death investigation.

On August 10th, Sergeant Luther Lone Tree responds to a crime scene in Crawford County, Arkansas. Inside a farmhouse, he finds 74-year-old Ruth Henderson laying dead on her bed. Lone Tree worked Juanita Wofford's murder two years earlier and immediately recognizes the pattern of attack. The victim, once again, had defense wounds, years earlier and immediately recognizes the pattern of attack. The victim, once again, had defense wounds,

was damaged to the head like Juanita Wofford was, and she appeared to have been sexually assaulted also. So in that sense, yes, that's the first thing that struck my mind, was they were very similar. Also called to the homicide, prosecuting attorney Ron Fields and Captain J.C. Ryder, both of whom see the same parallels between Henderson and Wofford.

There was a blood trail in both houses back toward the beds. The women were put on the beds. They were laying in virtually the same positions. It was really spooky just to walk into that crime scene. It was almost like walking into the Wofford house. I think my first statement to Ron was, we've got the wrong guy. Our killer's still on the loose.

Despite his detailed confessions, all charges against Danny Bennett are dropped, and the investigation begins anew. Five years later, however, no arrests have been made. You get frustrated sometimes, but you can't get upset because you're not coming up with the right guy. It's a process of elimination. It's 99% hard work, but what really catches the killer is the 1% of luck.

That lucky 1% comes to the fore in the most difficult of circumstances, as a young woman fights for her life and comes out a winner. I'm bleeding, and he's trying to fight me. I'm bleeding, and he cut my throat and he raped me. We'd left here and went up to see a neighbor of ours. Stayed up there and visited them for a while, and came home and seen this truck in the driveway. On March 28th, Bubba Qualls and his wife Sheila find a truck belonging to one of the neighbors in their driveway. The neighbor's name, Charles Ray Vines.

So it was kind of odd why it was in the driveway, and I went around him, pulled up here, and went in the house. And that's when I caught him in the house with my daughter. What Bubba Qualls catches is Vines raping and stabbing his 16-year-old daughter. Bubba's wife and daughter call police. 9-1-1, where's the emergency? I'm bleeding, and he cut my throat, and he raped me. He raped my daughter, and he cut her throat. He cut her throat?

Yes, he did. I grab him and start beating on him. Then I tell my wife to go get my pistol. When I cocked it to shoot him with it, it didn't fire. I cocked again, pulled the trigger, and I missed him. So then I pistol-whooped him with it and hit him right here with this. Hit him so hard I broke it right there. And I beat him for 20 minutes, that pistol.

I beat him for 20 minutes, that pistol. I beat him nonstop. Crawford County Sheriff's Deputy Jerry Martin responds to the Qualls' home. When I arrived here, I could see through a window when I pulled in the driveway and saw what looked to me like a disturbance or a fight going on in the living room. And when I approached the front door, I saw two men standing there and one stepped out of the way and the other was the victim's father standing there, and he had a pistol in his hand. Bubba fills Martin in on what has happened. Martin cuffs Vines, calls for backup, and then checks on Bubba's daughter. She was conscious and could talk to me.

She had some injuries where she had a cut on the side of her head that I saw. Crawford County Sheriff's Investigator Danny Phillips joins Martin at the scene. Almost immediately, he senses something familiar. It clicked on my mind that we had had a murder back in 95 of an elderly lady who was attacked the same way way she had stabs on her head and around her neck and then also I knew of another murder which was in Fort Smith by the same manner what Danny Phillips remembers is the 1995 unsolved murder of 74 year old Ruth Henderson and the 1993 rape and murder of 58 year old-old Juanita Wofford. These two crimes, together with an assault on 89-year-old Lellie Jones, sit in the cold

files. Now Phillips wonders if Charles Vines might not be the man detectives have been looking for. I told him that I had a subpoena to get blood. On March 29th, Danny Phillips begins to build a case for murder against Charles Ray Vines. And his response was, you know, is this for DNA? And that they're setting up another clue for me, that he knew that we were on his trail. The samples are sent to Arkansas' state crime lab.

DNA analyst Kermit Channel compares Vines' genetic signature against semen recovered from the Ruth Henderson case. We're able to immediately see that that DNA profile from Charles Ray Vines was a direct match to the DNA profile from the rectal swabs and also from the oral swabs in that case. Chetl next moves to the murder of Juanita Wofford and the rape of Lily Jones. In 1995, FBI testing seemed to indicate that these two samples came from different donors. Using more sophisticated methods of analysis, Chetl discovers the two samples to be identical.

And in fact, a full genetic match to Vines. With sophisticated methods of analysis, Channel discovers the two samples to be identical, and in fact, a full genetic match to Vines. I think this is really one of the first cases that we saw here in Arkansas that linked a potential serial killer to different crimes. He's facing capital murder charges. He's going to be put to death. He was asked if he wanted to talk, and he said no, he wanted to speak to his lawyer first. I told Charlie at that time that eventually someplace down the road he was going to have to talk to us,

or he was going to be put to death. And with that, he was taken back to the jail. Captain J.C. Ryder has lived with these crimes for the better part of a decade, and is willing to wait a bit longer for a full confession. In March of 2001, Vines contacts Ryder and is ready to talk. Today's date is March 14th, 2001, Fort Smith Police Department. Inside a small interrogation room, Vine sits face-to-face with investigators

and details the past. He begins with the rape of a woman he'd known his entire life, 89-year-old Lily Jones. With Miss Jones, he would come and take her to church. He just, you know, all-around good guy, except whenever he started drinking and smoking marijuana. Then it was a switch that just flipped. I remember going out to the door. I don't remember whether she let me in or I went and just busted in, and then I proceeded to have sex with him.

Even though you're sitting there interviewing a monster, you know, he was still being pleasant. That was just the outward appearance of him. That's what had so many people fooled. Charlie, you beat her pretty bad that night. Do you just lose control when you do something like that? I guess I do. I mean, it's like when I get in fights,

I mean, something just snaps and I don't know when to stop. An hour into the interrogation, investigators move to the Wofford crime, Vine's first homicide. He said that he'd been out drinking and he was in the mood for sex. And he knew

Miss Wofford lived by herself. She would represent no problem if he wanted to have sex. I remember walking up to her door. I guess I kept the screen to get entry to there. Didn't find any door locked. I don't know, I guess I just busted down the door and went in. And I remember her facing me. I mean, I was just, all I remember is hitting her.

I just kept hitting her. And I remember dragging her to the bedroom. I remember taking her clothes off. I remember starting having sex with her. Was she dead when you had the sex? Yes. Investigators then questioned you had the sex? Yes. Investigators then question Vines about the Henderson crime. The story is a familiar one.

Knocked on the door. As soon as the door opened, he barged in, and the fight was on. Beat her all the way to the bed. There he raped her, killed her, and then raped her, and then left. I asked him if he was to compare how good it felt on a scale of 1 to 10, where would the sex be at with you and a dead woman that you just killed? And he said about a 14. It would make your eyes roll back in your head. He said it's the greatest outstanding sex he's ever had in his life.

The guy's a monster. Charles Ray Vines pleads guilty to two counts of murder and a single count of rape and attempted murder. He is sentenced to three consecutive terms of life in prison. Charles Vine is currently incarcerated in Arkansas and will be for the rest of his life. He's 56 years old. I saw a picture of him taken in 2016. He looks human to me.

But I guess maybe monsters don't always look like monsters. Cold Case Files, the podcast, is hosted by Brooke Giddings, produced by McKamey Lynn and Steve Delamater. Our associate producer is Julie Magruder. Our executive producer is Ted Butler. Our music was created by Blake Maples. This podcast is distributed by Podcast One. The Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions

and is hosted by Bill One. The Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions and is hosted by Bill Curtis. Check out more Cold Case Files at AETV.com or learn more about cases like this one by visiting the A&E Real Crime blog at AETV.com slash real crime.